The Abba Interview 2014

Abba  enjoying Diggi Palace chai with the Glamorous Nomad on opening day

At sunset, I sat down with Abba on our balcony overlooking the Trivandrum zoo to catch up with her travels and her recent experience at the Jaipur Literature Festival. I first asked Abba what she’d been up to since our interview of almost a year ago. “I’m no longer unemployed, and I’m no longer living with my parents, although I enjoyed that (some). After leaving Jaipur last year, I went to Cameroon and visited my family there. I spent the summer living in New York City. Now, I’m living in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where my I’m CDC fellow in the field epidemiology training program.”

I asked Abba was like to live in Addis Ababa. She replied, “It has its pros and cons. Pros include a temperate climate (although I do like a little warmer). There are a lot of great restaurants with a good deal of variety in the cuisines offered. The people are nice and it’s generally safe. Also, there are a variety of different cultural centers. On the downside, the traffic can be a problem.

I asked Abba to compare her current experience in Addis Ababa with her earlier experiences living in Africa. She said, “When I lived in Cameroon, it was a small town so that was very different. Dakar (Senegal) is comparable to Addis Ababa. Bamako was lower key. In many ways, Addis Abba is most like Dakar.”

I asked about her experience with the program and Ethiopia. “The students in the program really appreciate the training and seem to enjoy our teaching style. The students are very enthusiastic about the teachers and as learners. The purpose of the program is to build capacity and eventually that it will become self-sustaining.”

About Ethiopia in general, Abba remarked that she’d been told it was unique, but she doesn’t see it as especially different. She noted that Africa is diverse, so that doesn’t distinguish Ethiopia especially. Abba did say she loved the food and that has been a real highlight. The people are friendly, but not as open, at least around Addis Ababa. It’s also harder out in the hinterland because they speak only Amharic, unlike the more widely spoken English within Addis Ababa. 

I turned Abba’s attention to attending her second Jaipur literature Festival and asked for her comments. “It was a real treat.” As a result of what she saw and heard, she bought 12 new books, and she has in mind a number of others. “All of this serves to reinvigorate my reading and really whets my appetite and creates a passion for literature based on what I experienced in Jaipur.” She also noted that the setting of the festival is quite beautiful. On the downside, she didn’t find as many great sessions as she found last year, although she attributed that primarily to the different topics on the schedule this year.

As to highlights, she rated the discussion between Gloria Steinem and Rachida Gupta as exceptional. Abba said their conversation served as a reminder that change comes from the bottom up, and change takes time, so supporters of change shouldn’t stop just because change seems to be coming too slowly. Ms. Steinem recommended shared parenting, that the boys and girls be raised more alike, and that the most important choice a woman can make is a good partner. Steinem reminded the audience that we should share our truths and that those who are more inclined to listen should speak up more, and those more inclined to talk should listen.

Abba reported that she didn’t do much advance reading this year for the festival, although she did do some. As far as panels go, she preferred those sessions with only two or three people because larger panels tended to meander more and some participants dominated the discussion. Abba was disappointed not to have heard more from Ved Mehta on the panel session she heard with him. She remarked that she was now reading one of his books and that he was a new author that she discovered courtesy of JLF.

When asked about her favorite food at the palace, she cited the thin crust pizza.

I asked Abba for her advice to any future JLF attendees and she remarked, “Come prepared”. She recommended that you review the schedule and choose your priorities among the sessions. Be prepared to stand, and if you can, come with others and work in teams. Finally, she recommended that you come with partially empty suitcases, because you’ll buy a number of books that you’ll want to take home.

I asked for her recommendations and she gave me four:

1.       Goat Days by Benyamin. She enjoyed it very much.

2.      Mukiwa by Peter Godwin (about Zimbabwe).

3.      Books by Ved Mehta.

4.      Ghana Must Go by Taiye Salasi. 

Abba reported she didn’t have any special issues with any of the presenters at the festival. 

Finally, I asked, about Jaipur and her return there. She reported enjoying Jaipur because of its good shops and good eating-places. She remarked that the weather was a bit chilly, but she was used to that from Ethiopia. Likewise, the traffic was even a little more hectic than Ethiopia, but tolerable.

From last year, her favorite author was Manu Joseph, and last year’s program help bring around her reading to this year’s program.

The Abba Interview

Recently, on the eve of her departure from India, I had an opportunity to sit down with Abba to discuss her experiences and observations about India. Looking fit and relaxed as I met her in her spacious Jaipur apartment, with suitcases readied for her imminent departure, Abba was forthcoming about her what she’d experienced in her time here. 

As an experienced traveler, she reported that she immediately took note of the Delhi’s Indira Gandhi airport, which made a favorable impression on her with its “cool buildings”. Upon existing and beginning her travels, she found that the scenes reminded her of South Africa. The level of development that she saw, however, was greater than West Africa, where she resided for over two years. While noting that India lies north of the equator, she found it “typical of the global south with its food stands, open air vendors, and hotels”. Some unpaved or ill-kept roads also confirmed her sense of the global south. She was “impressed by the train” that she took from Delhi to Jaipur, comparing it to the train in Cameroon that was incredibly unreliable. 

Asked to comment for those who have not experienced India first hand, she noted how much there is to see here and how much more she could see if she had the time. She remarked on the contrast between the southwestern state of Kerala, which provided a tropical setting, and the more arid climate of Jaipur. She regretted that she had not fully experienced the Indian megacities of Mumbai (although she made a very brief sojourn out of the airport there to explore) and Delhi, which has served (and will serve) only as an entry and exit point. Of Jaipur, she reported that she would not want to live here, “it’s pretty built up”, she observed. “Walking the old city, which is quite touristy, isn’t something that I enjoyed that much”. In general, she found Jaipur “too big and hard to get around”. In contrast, “I enjoyed the hiking and touring in the rural areas, and I would have liked to have done more of that.” She noted that she, along with her entourage, hiked in a rural area outside of the south-central Rajasthan city of Udaipur. “It reminded me a lot of the ‘Roon.” (The ‘Roon' is her slang for the West Central African nation of Cameroon.) Another aspect of India that she noted was the number events and festivals throughout the land. Asked to list a favorite, she did not hesitate: “The JLF [Jaipur Literature Festival] was awesome. It was like Christmas and SSR all in one.” (By “SSR”, Abba refers to her Lincoln Elementary School practice of “sustained silent reading”, also known by the participants as “sit down, shut-up and read”.) Abba greatly enjoyed introductions to new authors and the “great, engaging interviews” that she heard. 

I asked her about how she might advise someone coming to India about how to prepare and what to anticipate. Abba noted the “lack of personal space” as a major difference that one could expect coming from the U.S or from Cameroon. In addition, she noted, “India could overwhelm someone who has not traveled before. There’s a lot of stimulus, and you could go crazy if you can’t filter out some of that stimulus.” As example, she remarked on the traffic in India. In sum, “it’s a bold move if you come here first in your travels!”

As to dislikes or disappointments, in addition to less rural touring that she would have liked, or the flip side, less time to explore the great cities, Abba noted her regret that she could not communicate in the local language, as she did in Cameroon. “I miss a lot being unable to speak Hindi, and I fear that creates a more superficial experience.” (This interviewer remained mute about that shortcoming.) Abba noted that she did not like polo, finding it “boring”. Finally, echoing sentiments held by her mother, the Iowa Guru, she noted, “I don’t like the cold weather.” (The reader should note that the temperature here did not get down below freezing, only into the 30’s (F), but with unheated rooms, Abba and her entourage would find it hard to warm up the extremities.)

On the positive side, Abba gathered a number of mementos from her time here, most notably the wood block cloth prints that she created, as well as some items that she purchased retail. As she noted, “India is great for fabric, and I’m really into it”. In addition, she noted that she’ll be returning to the States with some new bangles and a number of new books. 

To end our conversation, I asked Abba to reflect on a professional level about the quality of social services and public infrastructure that she observed here in India. “I’d give Cameroon a ‘D’ or an ‘E’; East Africa a ‘C’, and India a ‘B’” she reported. “I saw some great organizations, like Disha [an institution for disabled children where she volunteered], but I feel that I just skimmed the surface”. She went on to qualify her grade by remarking that she “still had a lot to learn” in order the get a complete picture of India. She noted that within Jaipur she saw a lot of building going on, including an elevated mass transit system. 

By this point, Abba was looking tired, and I knew that she needed to complete her packing for her journey to Nepal and then back to the states. I thanked her for the generous donation of her time to this interview. 

Jaipur has seen its share of rich and famous through the years, maharajas, royalty like Prince Charles and Princess Di, the Clintons, stars from Bollywood and Hollywood, as well the incomparable Oprah. Now it can add Abba to its list.